Culture gone to hell. Ban it all!

Jeffrey R. DeRego
HippoPress.com

I can't stand the current boy-band craze that has swept the hearts and minds of America's children. The Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and 98 Degrees perform hackneyed, mythological, pathetic love songs that impart unrealistic goals to our children.

I want to protect America's boys and girls from the pain and hurt of rejection.

Eliminating these musicians and their insidious, saccharine message of romance and easy love is the first step.

No child should have to endure the agony of pubescent, unrequited love. Studies have shown that children who engage in coeducational education are
more likely to have contact with members of the opposite gender. This leads to co-gender friendships that inevitably end in despair.

NSYNC and other so called musicians of their ilk perpetually propagate the myth that girls and boys should be ready and accepting of such complex emotions as love without thought to the consequences. Of course, developmentally, no child can truly love until at least their eighteenth birthday.

Not all boys and girls are as beautiful as Britney Spears, Christina Aquillera, or the boys in NSYNC, and thus these performers present an unrealistically beautiful model upon which our children base their attitude, appearance, and social development. But, to simply remove all recordings and images of these glamorized and unattainable ideals is not enough to protect all children.

We cannot stop only with music. Television provides so called role models that perpetuate the myth that children need only dream something and it can be achieved. Ban the Olympics, ban football too, and the news because it is
so violent. Besides, what child wants to travel to Kosovo, or Baghdad? Do they even need to know that these places exist?

Television also provides other unrealistic and disturbing fictional characters such as Kermit the Frog, Pikachu, and Spongebob Squarepants.

But this is only the tip of the cultural iceberg!

What about children who are too young to understand the complexities of today's pop culture?

What about the youngsters?

Ban the story "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," as it suggests that even unattractive, or overweight "caterpillars" will always become beautiful butterflies when we know from fact that this is not the case. Several children who begin life overweight remain so until the end of their pathetic and loveless life. Why set them up for romantic despair so early in life? This book also promotes the teen angst disease Bulemia by graphically depicting a "binge" when the caterpillar eats through one apple, two oranges, three slices of watermelon, etc... until, "it had a terrible bellyache."

I would suggest the alternative to this book be something like Winnie the Pooh. He suffers the consequences of his "binge" by becoming stuck in the doorway to Rabbit's hole. Also, the Disney Store carries a lot of great Winnie the Pooh merchandise with which to festoon your child.

Exposure to this sort of behavior, even on the part of the a small and very hungry caterpillar, shows impressionable children that it is "okay" to binge and purge until you are as slender, lithe, and adored as Britney Spears or NSYNC.

Even infants are under assault by our entertainment culture. Look at the plastic key rings and mobiles that are sold in stores across America. Can a nine-month-old child actually drive? Can they touch the stars or birds in flight? Of course not! So why is it okay to let them believe that such super heroic acts are possible?

Why allow their expectation to rise to such a high level when they do not have the intellect to know that such things are impossible? This is all the
media's fault. All the music, television, books, crayons, diapers, pureed carrots, lunch boxes, banana labels, designer sneakers, movies, breakfast cereals, words, thoughts, colors, drafts, people who "think differently," teachers, ministers, priests, mothers, fathers, poor people, rich people, beautiful people, dreams, worries, laughter, tears, and exuberance lead to eventual despair.

Isn't anyone concerned about their well being? How can we expect to raise obedient, well adjusted children with so much adverse stimuli available on a daily basis?

We must protect them so that they will grow up happy, and just smart enough to get a job, and content enough to keep it, so that future generation never feel anything but bliss.

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